Daniel Rakowitz, the man convicted of killing and dismembering his dance-student roommate and feeding her to homeless people, has been moved to a lower-security wing of a psychiatric facility. The move has sparked fears that he is one step closer to being released after serving 35 years inside New York's maximum-security Kirby Forensic Psychiatric Center on Wards Island.
Killing and Dismemberment in 1989
Rakowitz, dubbed the 'butcher of Tompkins Square Park', killed and dismembered his 29-year-old roommate, Monika Beerle. He boiled her body parts and put them in a soup, feeding them to homeless people in the park in the East Village of Manhattan in 1989.
One witness testified that they saw a soup containing a human finger. Rakowitz denied killing Beerle but confessed to dismembering her and then bleaching and boiling her bones.
Insanity Verdict and Transfer
He was found not criminally responsible at trial in 1991 by reason of insanity. Now aged 65, sources told the New York Post that he was moved to the adjacent and more modern Manhattan Psychiatric Center two years ago.
The source claimed he had less security around him as a result of being moved to the civilian side of the facility. “They’re letting people out prematurely every day,” the source said. “He may be one of those that end up getting out. Ninety-nine percent of patients who are released” get moved to lower security first.
Concerns Over Security and Release
The source claimed that hospital staff were not "on board" after seeing Rakowitz roaming around the lower-security wing. “They’re basically breaking down the barriers between criminal and civil,” the source claimed. “Letting them out is a very bad idea.”
The hospital has different levels of security on campus, ranging from high-security units to transitional housing, which is used as the last stage before release. During his trial, Rakowitz testified that he would rather go to prison than a psychiatric facility because he did not want to be medicated.
Rakowitz petitioned to transfer to a less secure facility in 2010, but his request was denied and he was ordered to remain at Kirby.
